Dash Rendar Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 Howdy all I have just sold my Supra to a nice chap called Dave. He picked it up last night and drove it back home, some 250 miles in just three hours. While the journey was generally without incident, he did mention to me one issue which puzzled me. Apparently, when he was giving it a bit of booting, the car reached about 130 and red-lined in third, and then wouldn't change up into 4th. I would have simply attributed this to him having accidentally pressed the OD button, but he said that went he let off the gas and booted it again, it changed up into 4th, no problem. But then, as it was approaching 140 in 4th, at about 4000rpm, he says it refused to go any quicker. Now, I must confess that in the three years I owned the car, I never drove it faster than 135, as I've never had the bottle to sustain that kind of speed for any length of time. (The speed doesn't bother me... It's losing my license that does!) So I never had this problem happen to me. When I purchased the car myself, I was advised that it was delimited. But I was under the opinion that the imposed speed restriction (which had been delimited) was set much lower than 140. Could there be another 140 limit which I was not aware of? I can't thing what else would stop it going any quicker. This is a BPU car; specs in the sig... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrdsukautos Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 i have the same problem and it is because i fittted a pro speed convertor rather than a basic one do you know what make the convertor is? ill be changing mine to a basic this weekend so will be able to hit over 140 again mine is intermittent tho so not sure if same fault Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dash Rendar Posted October 4, 2007 Author Share Posted October 4, 2007 Unfortunately, I have no idea what you're talking about! Mine was 'delimited' before I bought it, so I don't know what was actually done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slow_matt Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 Any chance of more info on this please. What is the difference between the two? Many thanks Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 Supra speedo's are VERY innacurate. Is it possible he was only hitting the stock 112mph limit? An indicated 140 wouldn't be unheard of as a 'real' 112mph - particularly if the wheels are of a non-standard size. I know you're not one to drive to very high speeds, but whats the max you've seen on the speedo prior to now? PM if you prefer. Also, did the guy get any warning light flash up on the dash? Has he checked for error codes. With the colder weather I'm wondering if it might have hit fuel cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slow_matt Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Ah ha, just had a massive go on the search function and spent a while reading. By the looks of it the cause for mine is it's a VVTi Tiptronic and it looks like quite a few people suffer with these. My symptoms are; traction controls light flashs when grip is not lost, snow comes on in the dry and grip lost, there doesn't appear to be a rev limiter or shift points programmed over 112leptons. The car can be coaxed above 140leptons in 4th, but try pressing on further and it will kickdown, this has happened once, and it scared the living crap out of me!!! Just seems like they didn't bother programming the car to not kickdown at anyspeed as when it was limited from factory there would not be any problem, I bet if it did 113leptons an hour in second it would kickdown to 2nd at 140 leptons and hour given the chance. Scary stuff! Cheers Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dash Rendar Posted October 5, 2007 Author Share Posted October 5, 2007 Thanks Homer He did say the oil light intermittently came on. When he checked the oil afterwards it was a little low, but not as low as the minimum mark. I'm pretty sure, however, that the speedo is nowhere near that far out. I've seen a little over 130 leptons before, and that was as part of a Supra convoy on a rolling road day arranged by Paul E. (I think you were there that day.) I believe the speedo was reading fairly close, since other cars in the convoy commented on doing similar speeds. If I hear from Dave again, I might suggest he gets on here and adds any further information to this thread. (I believe he's already a member.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelfill Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Dave works with me, I'll ask him for some more info when I see him. I've not had chance to speak to him since he picked it up on Wednesday. (but yeah he is a member david.whiteside) He mentioned to me the same symptoms over email. bouncing off rev limiter in 3rd, lift off - box changes into overdrive and oil light flashing intermittantly. Could it be gear box oil? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyb10supra Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 you have sold your car to a nutter!! has he driven a supra before? if he hasn't and is driving at those speeds already I doubt it will last long Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slow_matt Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Is there any sort of solution for my problem with the VVTi tiptronic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Mark Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Mine did a similar thing last night. On a 200 mile drive I hit 140 leptons and it felt like the fuel cut had kicked in. I can't remember if the warning triangle came on or not. My car has been decatted but the FCD has not yet been fitted so I'm guessing that is the reason, tho I have never had the fuel cut kick-in in the 5 weeks I've had the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSupTT Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 hh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dash Rendar Posted October 5, 2007 Author Share Posted October 5, 2007 Howdy Dave! When it reached 4000rpm and wouldn't go quicker, did it feel a bit like you'd suddenly hit the breaks? The FCD on your car comes in at 1.25 bar and kills the power. I know that between 100 and 120, this feels very abrupt, though I've no idea what it feels like at 140. It's only happened to me once, since the restrictor ring should hold it at 1.2 bar, but on a cold day it sometimes overboosts, and if you overboost for long enough, the fuel cut can come in. I presume that if the car was still pulling strong (which it should have been), then the fuel cut would have felt quite harsh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vvteye Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Is there any sort of solution for my problem with the VVTi tiptronic? I had exactly the same issue, and I can assure you I tried everywhere to get it resolved. I fact, I personally believe (that is in my opinion) that it kicked down when Martin from ex mk1V store was hammering it and it blew the gearbox. I then went with a Thor delimiter unit but this was still a risk. I ended up going for a 6speed conversion as I want to hit the higher speeds on a track some day soon! I was also told during my investigations that a high spec ecu has the function to manage the gear kickdown and delimitter etc and that this was the only option available if I wanted to stay with the Tip. Once they started quoting over a grand to map it let alone the cost of the ECU I went down the 6 speed route as you get most of the investment back when you sell the car. Hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSupTT Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Hey guys, Thanks Darren for asking the question on here for me and thanks to everyone who has replied! Well its pretty much whats already been said, basically it seems to be limited to around 137ish. Just for the record I am not a boy racer and I normally drive sensible, but the urge was too great after driving the car for 3hrs home and finally getting a totally clear road, I felt the need to give it a good boost! And I have to say, im well impressed with the performance especially when the 2nd turbo kicks in the performance is fantastic, especially mid range (around 80mph). Much prefer it to my previous car, MR2 Turbo, although it was very quick as well, its not really a comparison! It was weird though, the car raced up to about 130 but it never changed into the top gear, it was just red lining. But soon as I eased my foot off and applied it again, it changed up a gear and stopped dead at around 137mph 4000revs ish. So I drove the rest of the journey home a steady 80mph. Another thing which I noticed was that after driving for a while, or having said that, today at work when Mike (pixelfill) was having a look at the car, the engine seems to be heating up very quickly. After driving home from picking the car up, it was time to refill, and as I was filling the car up I noticed there was a bit of smoke coming out of the side of the bonnet. Not entirely sure where its coming from but I will keep an eye on it. Anyone got any ideas? Like I said, the car is great and clearly been looked after, hope your not missing it too much Darren! Ill take care of her Cheers guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dash Rendar Posted October 5, 2007 Author Share Posted October 5, 2007 I am missing it! The fact that it 'stopped dead' at 137 strongly suggests fuel cut to me, as a result of overboosting. I'm led to believe that the 1.2 bar restrictor ring which you have is not the best way to restrict the boost, and that an electronic boost controller would be more reliable. But as I said, it only happened to me once. In general, I found boost would reach 1.2 bar, but when I used the removable silencer/baffle in the Nur Spec, I got slightly less boost, typically 1.1 to 1.2. You might want to try it again with the baffle in, as it will slightly restrict the exhaust flow and might 'enhance' the effect of the restrictor ring. As for the engine overheating... I've never had it overheat on me. In fact, the radiator is only about six months old and I've never had to fill it. (The old one had a hairline crack near the top and had to be filled regularly.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSupTT Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Howdy Dave! When it reached 4000rpm and wouldn't go quicker, did it feel a bit like you'd suddenly hit the breaks? The FCD on your car comes in at 1.25 bar and kills the power. I know that between 100 and 120, this feels very abrupt, though I've no idea what it feels like at 140. It's only happened to me once, since the restrictor ring should hold it at 1.2 bar, but on a cold day it sometimes overboosts, and if you overboost for long enough, the fuel cut can come in. I presume that if the car was still pulling strong (which it should have been), then the fuel cut would have felt quite harsh. Hey Darren, no it just felt like the car was maxed out, as far as i recall i dont remember any harshness what so ever. It felt like it had just gradually reached its top end, which clearly isnt the case but there was nothing sudden as in feeling like the brakes were being applied though. hmm strange Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dash Rendar Posted October 5, 2007 Author Share Posted October 5, 2007 I've just had a thought... The polished expansion tank (I miss that too!) does have an opening to atmosphere, so if it was running hot, I guess you might get a little steam from there (on the passenger side). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSupTT Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Yeah it was wierd, cos it must of smoked for a couple of mins whilest i was filling up, so once filling i went in a pain and when i came out the smoking had dropped off quite a bit. Reason why i didnt open the bonet to see where it was coming from i was liturally round the corner from my house so i drove it home steadily and by the time i got home, the smoking had stopped. It was a very clear smoke, ie not black. And it wasnt a thick cloud either so ill just keep my eye on it i guess. Today when Mike was haing a look at it the car was only parked up tickking over, and not been drove for over 3 hrs, and when i switched the engine off and mike opened up the engine oil, some smoke came out then as well. Not much but it was still quite warm considering it was just parked up ticking over for 2 mins or so. Ill just keep an eye on it. I checked all the liquids and they are all ok, think i need to top up the engine coolant and break fluid though, but there not on minimum so dont see why that would matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSupTT Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 I've just had a thought... The polished expansion tank (I miss that too!) does have an opening to atmosphere, so if it was running hot, I guess you might get a little steam from there (on the passenger side). oh right, yeah i saw that. Ill just monitor it and see how it goes. I mean the car drives perfect, theres no sign of anything wrong in that respect. I love it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dash Rendar Posted October 5, 2007 Author Share Posted October 5, 2007 That's good. Glad you like it. I'm assuming then that the smoking is actually a bit of steam, rather than oil smoke. When it's nice and cool, just check the water level in the radiator. As I said, the radiator is definitely sound, but it's possible you've vented some through the expansion tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSupTT Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 That's good. Glad you like it. I'm assuming then that the smoking is actually a bit of steam, rather than oil smoke. When it's nice and cool, just check the water level in the radiator. As I said, the radiator is definitely sound, but it's possible you've vented some through the expansion tank. ok cheers. ill keep you posted! thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyb10supra Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Just for the record I am not a boy racer and I normally drive sensible, but the urge was too great after driving the car for 3hrs home and finally getting a totally clear road, I felt the need to give it a good boost! good to hear bud...I wasn't having a pop at all its just a lot of newbies are posting a few weeks after they have the car with a sob story and how they lost it in the first couple of weeks especially around this time of year now the damp cold mornings are coming Ps we all do it as well.....happy boosting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSupTT Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 good to hear bud...I wasn't having a pop at all its just a lot of newbies are posting a few weeks after they have the car with a sob story and how they lost it in the first couple of weeks especially around this time of year now the damp cold mornings are coming Ps we all do it as well.....happy boosting Well I just didnt want to give the impression that i was some chav hahaha Cheers for everyones comments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 David (and Matt), it does indeed sound like you're both afflicted with the known auto VVTi problem of the ECU not being programmed to change gears over 112mph. That's the reason why it won't change up to 4th at WOT but does if you lift off slightly. As for not going over 140, is this still at WOT? I managed to get mine up to 165 (indicated) by not keeping my foot flat to the floor. There's more than 2 positions on the throttle pedal you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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